Nothing ordinary
by C a P T i V i T Y
Summary: Perhaps something might have been said for the fact that 'ordinary' wasn't exactly a thing in the Fenton household /\ Or: Maddie awakes to laughter coming from the ops-centre and decides to investigate. Chaos ensues from there. [pre-PP]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, this started out as a drabble where Maddie walked in on Danny and Dani talking about Ember, and Maddie slowly piecing together that her son is Danny Phantom... but no-no can do!**

**So, after more than four hours of writing and a lot of research on DNA and chromosomes (I couldn't for the life of me remember what was male and what female) I wrote what I THOUGHT would be a oneshot...**

**And then I decided that, since it exists out of three chapter-length parts, this is just a short fic of three chapters.**

**So, three parts. I will update today, tomorrow and the day after. Capish? I've already got everything written, so the only thing I have to do is upload, meaning that if I don't, you might try reminding me. I'm very forgetful...**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Maddie Fenton was awoken by laughing coming from somewhere above her.<p>

Groaning, the brunette rolled onto her side and glanced at her alarm-clock: It was 4:00 AM. Who on earth would be awake at this deadly hour? Certainly not her husband, who was snoring lightly next to her.

So then, it was only reasonable to argue that one of her children had been the source of the laughter, or perhaps both of them. Maddie was aware that Danny, her fourteen-year-old son, often sneaked out at night, but never before had she tried to stop it.

But something, perhaps it was fate, made her get out of bed this particular night.

The woman grabbed her robe from the floor, where she had carelessly thrown in last night, and put it around herself as she slipped out of her bedroom.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary (although perhaps something might have been said for the fact that 'ordinary' wasn't exactly a thing in the Fenton household), but Maddie decided to check on her children either way.

The laughing had, as stated, come from upstairs, so if it had come from either one of her children, they would not be in their rooms, but rather in the ops-centre or on the roof (the last one seemed highly unlikely).

But Jazz, Maddie's sixteen-year-old daughter, _was _in her room, and seemed untroubled by the laughter that was once again erupting from above. The red-head was sleeping soundly, a small smile on her features as if she were having a nice dream.

Closing her daughters bedroom-door, Maddie smiled as well, and then made her way over to her son's bedroom door.

His bed was, as she might have predicted, empty and cold. It appeared to be the same as it had been all day: Danny hadn't slept in it this night.

"Oh Danny, why do you make everything so hard for yourself?" The woman whispered to nobody in particular.

Her son was having trouble as it was, and he certainly couldn't use another sleepless night: He was failing most of his classes in school, and seemed to be in some sort of trouble (though he refused to discuss this with her); he was always covered in bruises and wounds, and once she had caught a glance of his bare back: It was filled with scars.

Perhaps not asking more about it made her a bad mother, but Danny had reacted in such a dark manner when she had tried to sit down with him and talk about it that she hadn't dared to try again.

Sometimes her son really scared her, and Maddie couldn't hate herself for it any more than she already did.

Another wave of laughter entered the woman's ears, and she closed her son's bedroom door with a sigh. Obviously, the fourteen-year-old was the source of the laughter, and if said sound came from above he could only be located in the ops-centre (she hoped).

Taking the attic stairs that dated from before the Fenton's had moved in and practically re-built the entire house, Maddie made her way further upstairs, and then peeked into the so-called ops-centre.

As predicted, her son could be found here.

He was sitting on the floor with a bag of Paprika crisps in front of him, dressed in his favorite pajama pants (with rockets on it) and his usual white and red shirt, though this one seemed to be ruined, with a hole in the side.

On the other side of the bag of crisps, across from her son, Maddie noticed a slightly younger girl: Twelve, maybe thirteen years old, she was, with the same blue eyes as her son and only slightly longer black hair. She wore a red beanie, and Danny's pajama blouse (the one that matched his pants), which was almost a dress for her, she was so small.

"Oh my god!" Danny said with another laugh, neither of the two having noticed his mother, "I can't believe you did that!"

The young girl laughed as well, and then popped a hand full of crisps into her mouth: "Yeawh, I mean swe totallyu aswked for it." She swallowed, "She thought it was funny too, though."

"Lucky you! If I had done that to her, I'd be a dead-man." Danny said, taking a single crisp out of the bag and putting it into his mouth, after which he carefully chewed it, swallowed, and then went on: "Ember is a total bitch whenever we see each other."

"Yeah, that's because you suck her into a thermos whenever you do." The girl grinned, "I don't have to do that. The perks of being me, I suppose."

Maddie was baffled. First of all; she had no idea that her son ever used that old thermos of theirs, and second of all; there was a young girl in their house, and she looked way too much like Danny for it to be just a coincidence.

Climbing into the room fully, the ghost-hunter put her hands onto her hips and frowned. "Daniel James Fenton, just what is going on here?"

The two children on the floor looked up, both with eyes as big as saucers, and after what seemed to be hours (but was, in fact, only a few seconds), Danny jumped up.

"Mom! I'm so sorry I'm not in bed, I-"

"Not being in bed is the least of your concerns, young man. Who is this girl?" Maddie made a hand-gesture towards the girl still sitting on the floor, seemingly motionless, and deepened her frown when her son didn't react: "Well, are you going to answer me or what?"

"Mom, this is Danielle, she's... uh... she's..." Danny rubbed his neck, a nervous habit, and looked at the girl. "She's... Vlad's... daughter? I suppose..."

"Sort of." The girl said, her face now cold as a statue, "But he doesn't... acknowledge me as such."

"Vlad doesn't have a daughter." Maddie said with a roll of her eyes, "That's not a very good excuse."

"But it's _true_." Danny said, throwing his arms out as if to make his point clearer, "I met her when I... I mean _we_ were at his mansion! He doesn't want her because he's a bitter old fruit loop and now she lives on the streets! She just needs a place to stay for one night! _Please_ just pretend you didn't see anything, this one time?"

At the end of his speech, her son was partially begging, his hands clasped together and everything. Maddie could do nothing but sigh at the sight. She couldn't just pretend not to have seen anything, that much was certain, and there was no way this girl was actually Vlad's daughter.

But if she needed a place to stay, Maddie couldn't just kick her out, right?

"All right, listen up." she decided, crossing her arms in front of her chest, "First of all, Daniel, you're going to quit lying and you two are going to tell me who she..." A nod towards 'Danielle' "...really is. Then, we're going to call the police, and-"

"No!" 'Danielle' exclaimed, "Please, _please_ ma'am, don't call the police! Please, I'll do anything-"

"Why can't I call the police?" Maddie asked worriedly. If this girl was wanted and the authorities found out Danny had been helping her... Well, he already had some things on his name and certainly couldn't afford another slip-up.

"I just... they won't know what to do with me anyway. I'll end up in an orphan home." 'Danielle' announced, tears in her eyes.

"At least you'll have a home." Maddie decided, "I'm calling the police. _Now_."

"No, mom!" Danny grabbed her wrist as she made to turn around, his big blue eyes on her. "Please, don't let them take Dani, she's... um... She's-" He paused, seemed to mull something over, and then blurted: "She's my clone."

"What." Maddie said (not even asked).

Of all the weird excuses, this had to be the worst.

"It's true! Go and test our DNA, it'll be a total match." Her son promised, "She's my clone."

"Danny, you're a boy. She's a girl." Maddie rolled her eyes, "Even if it wasn't already a ridiculous excuse, that's an indication that what you say isn't correct."

"Then test our DNA." Danny repeated. "Prove me wrong."

Maddie looked between the two children, took a deep breath, and made her decision.

"Okay." She said, "I will."


	2. Chapter 2

Maddie Fenton couldn't believe it.

She. Could. Not.

Staring at the computer screen in front of her, and then at the two children sitting a little away on the floor of the lab, once again eating crisps, reality sunk in.

"This has got to be some mistake." The woman told herself, "There is no way Danny- I mean it just can't be-" She cut herself off completely, finding no way to phrase to herself what could only come out sounding utterly wrong.

Somebody had cloned her baby.

Looking once again at the bright red letters on the computer screen, Maddie could feel bile rising in her throat.

_DNAM._

Which, on the computer in their lab, was the code for: Deoxyribonucleic Match.

The only thing that didn't fit, in fact, was the chromosomes. When making a chromosome portrait, it was almost exactly the same, except for their gender, which was kind of obvious even without looking at the chromosomes themselves.

Whereas Danny had the male ending of his chromosome portrait (XY), for Danielle, this ending was female (XX).

But there was no doubt the children were _at least _very closely related, if they weren't actually clones as they had claimed.

Heaving a deep breath as if to brace herself, Maddie whirled around to face her son and his almost identical copy and glared daggers at the both of them, crossing her arms. "Explain this. _Now_."

"Mom. We... can't." The fourteen-year-old told her, "Or, _I_ can't, and... um..." He stopped himself, rubbing his neck again as he looked at the floor. "It's complicated."

"I bet it is." Maddie muttered. "You guys said Vlad had something to do with this?"

"Well, yeah-" Danielle said, before Danny put his hand on her mouth to silence her.

"He sort of... started it, but he didn't- auch! You bit me!" Danny looked at his clone (it kept being scary, somebody had _cloned _her baby!) and scowled.

He'd removed his hand from the girl's mouth in favor of cradling it to his chest, and she was now able to talk again.

"Vlad tried to steal Danny's mid-morph DNA, and he almost died, and-"

"Danielle!" Danny exclaimed.

"What? I'm just telling her-"

"What's mid-morph DNA?" Maddie interrupted, staring at her son as if seeing him for the first time.

She had a feeling she knew.

"See for yourself."Danny growled, "You just did a test on my DNA, didn't you?"

That she had in fact done, and now that she thought about it, it _had _looked slightly off. As if something was added to it that didn't belong in the mix. Something that wasn't human.

Turning back to her computer, the woman started scrolling through the information the screen presented her. It was a whole lot that the normal eye (and the eyes of many scientists, as well) wouldn't understand, for every code in this computer had been created specifically by Jack and Maddie so only they would understand.

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

The exact code was many,_many _paragraphs longer, and it was, of course, the same code repeated over and over again (28683y68542367826h856268637698598752l07u6716785812f067682758266789158478645286745g6862378676534867587538725837535287354826g9863846923598468734896), but the thing that was strange about it could be seen even in this short part of the code: Never before in her life, not _once_, had Maddie ever seen an eight in the code for human DNA. No matter whose DNA it was.

But (both) Danny (and Danielle) had multiple in his (their) code(s): 2**8**6**8**3y6**8**542367**8**26h**8**5626**8**63769**8**59**8**752l07u67167**8**5**8**12f0676**8**275**8**2667**8**915**8**47**8**6452**8**6745g6**8**6237**8**676534**8**675**8**753**8**725**8**375352**8**7354**8**26g9**8**63**8**4692359**8**46**8**734**8**96 .

"Danny..." Maddie realized, "Why does your deoxyribonucleic code contain so many eights?"

"Mom, I don't know what that means." Danny reminded her.

Right, she'd started thinking as a scientist while she was supposed to be thinking as a mother right now. Or well... these two children were both hers, she supposed, since Danielle did have _Fenton_ DNA.

"An eight has never before been present in the deoxyrib- _DNA_ code of a human. It's only ever present in the DNA code of a ghost, whereas a seven, which is present very often in your DNA code as well, has only ever been present in the DNA of a human."

"Is that even true? That's not how mr. Lancer taught us in school..." Danny asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Your father and I invented our own codes for everything." Maddie announced offhandedly, "Now answer me, baby. Why are there so many eights in your deoxyribonucleic code?"

Danny smiled sadly, Danielle clasping his hand. "You said it yourself, mom. Only ghosts ever have an eight in their DNA."

"But... you _can't _be a ghost, sweetie. You have sevens!" Which, even to her own ears, sounded slightly crazy, but right now she didn't care.

Her baby could _not_ be a ghost.

"Mom..." Danny whispered, "Please figure it out. I don't want to say it."

Maddie frowned, looked at her son, then at the girl next to him (god, what was she supposed to think of Danielle? Was she her daughter? Her relative? _**What**_?), and then decided to do what she always did when she couldn't figure out something.

She'd let the computer figure it out.

Typing in the code only _she _knew (not Jack, who, as much as she loved him, had the irritating habit of accidentally ruining something), and then another two passwords, Maddie started up the program that was installed especially for the reading of 'special' deoxyribonucleic codes.

_loading: 1%_

"Should I be worried about what I'm going to find out?" Maddie asked her son, looking at him with new eyes (or so it felt).

He was slightly paler than normal, and held the hand Danielle had offered him tightly. It was painfully obvious that he was scared, and for the first time Maddie realized that she hadn't just been a slightly bad mother. She'd been _neglecting_ her son.

Whatever the case, Danny already knew what she would find.

And he hadn't told her, because he was _afraid _of her. She'd been so busy worrying about how her son scared _her_, that she hadn't even spend a single thought on worrying about it being the other way _around_, as well.

_loading: 67%_

"I don't know." Danny told her, at the same time that Danielle told her: "Probably."

"Danielle, honey..." Whoa, it had slipped out without Maddie even thinking about it, "...we should probably get this whole deal cleared up right now..." Maddie swallowed the lump in her throat and seemed to think. "I think it's safe to say that you're welcome here, at least for the night... I'll discuss the rest with Jack in the morning."

"Yeah... That seems fair." Danielle agreed, "But I don't know what you're going to say about the result of... that." She made a vague gesture somewhere in the general direction of the computer, her eyes still fixated on Danny (who, with every minute that went by, seemed to be panicking more and more and was now all but ready to pass out), "So let's not be too hasty, okay?" She flashed a quick smile, before muttering something to Danny that his mother didn't quite catch.

She turned back to the screen.

_loading: 99%_

This was it.

In a minute, she was going to find out what had her son freaking out and what would (most likely) explain his constant absence, slipping grades and bruises.

Not that he'd said that, but it was just a feeling she had. No matter how fierce a scientist she was, she always believed in her mother-instincts.

_loading complete_


	3. Chapter 3

On Monday morning, the Fenton household was utter chaos.

Jack had absolutely _flipped_ when he'd received the news from his wife. He'd dressed, eaten breakfast, and had left through the front door, after which he hadn't returned.

Jazz, typically, had already known. She hadn't said as much, not even to Danny, but she'd listened to her mothers story with understanding and had accepted everything easily. Too easily. There was no way she hadn't known before.

As for Maddie herself, she'd barely started to even grasp the entire idea herself.

Her son was half ghost.

More than that, her best friend from college was half ghost as well, and had tried to _clone _him! Plus, he had mostly succeeded, thus creating a young girl that had absolutely _no_ place anywhere.

Well, no longer.

"You could come live here, if you like."

Danielle froze mid-chew, having been silent almost the entire morning: through-out Jack's leaving, the short moment of panic that had followed and Danny's outburst that had followed after _that_ (something along the lines of 'I'm going to be dissected, I knew it') (Maddie had assured him he wouldn't be, and then send him and Jazz off to school). Now, she just seemed utterly pale.

Maddie had, of course, hoped Jack would react a little bit less like... well... like this. She'd hoped she could sit down with him and Danielle after Jazz and Danny left for school and discuss the girl's situation.

Technically, Danielle was their daughter: She had the same DNA Danny had, and Danny was their son.

Maddie wasn't about to let her daughter starve or not have a home (and there was no way she was going to alert the police _now_), so if it was up to her, Danielle would simply live with them at Fenton Works.

And since Jack hadn't been able to just act like the adult the children needed him to be right now, Maddie decided that it _was_ up to her.

"I... don't know, ma'am." The young girl muttered after swallowing, "Your husband didn't seem to be too comfortable with all of this. Maybe it's better if I just leave after breakfast and... stay away." She looked at her food with a frown and shrugged, "I wouldn't mind."

(Her frown told Maddie that she would. It was Danny's lying frown, and apparently Danielle used it, as well.)

"But I would." The mother decided to say, standing and grabbing Danielle's empty plate so she could clean it, "No Fenton is going to be homeless, I won't stand for it."

Danielle stood as well, aimlessly wandering around in the kitchen while Maddie cleaned. She spotted some pictures on the fridge and spend a good ten minutes trying to figure out what they all were, until she figured out that they weren't _pictures_, they were _drawings_.

"Danny and Jazz made those when they were just little babies." Maddie said with a fond smile, "God, I can still remember every second they spend as toddlers... The littlest things, they were. I couldn't imagine them any bigger than they were, then. But they grow up everyday."

"That must feel lonely..." Danielle said with a frown, "To see your children grow up like that."

"I suppose it does feel kind of lonely." Maddie agreed, "But it's also very fulfilling, to see your children grow into beautiful adults and know you've done something right."

"Oh..." Danielle abruptly turned away from the drawings and watched Maddie as she cleaned, "Could I help you with that?"

"No, hon. That's okay."

"When do you suppose your husband will be back?" Danielle wondered.

"Oh, he'll be back any minute, I believe. He's probably just as shocked as I was, if not more. It's his invention that did this, after all... But he's a good father and a good husband. He won't just stay away." Maddie paused, "Why do you ask?"

"I think it's best if I'm gone before he returns. I'll go dress now."

"Not a chance, Danielle. You're welcome here as long as you like. Jack will agree. You'll see!" Maddie frowned, "Also, I found your clothes in Danny's room and I put them in the washing machine, so you don't actually have anything to wear right now."

"Oh..."

"You could take a shower, if you like. I can give you one of my old shirts for today... I'm sure you'll pretty much swim in it, though." Maddie shrugged, putting the last plate on the drying rack and turning towards the younger girl.

"Uh... yeah, I guess..." Danielle nodded, "I'd like that, thanks."

Maddie smiled and made her way upstairs, her whatever-she-was right behind her. She showed the young girl the bathroom and promised to put down some clothes by the door for when she was done. After having actually done this, as well, she went downstairs again and looked around the empty kitchen.

Now that she was alone, her confidence started to waver.

What if Jack _didn't_ return?

Oh god, what if he was doing something utterly stupid, like driving to Wisconsin to hurt Vlad?

What if Vlad hurt _him_?

A lot of time to worry, she didn't have. Ten minutes later, the mother could hear the front door open and close, and in walked Jack and... a puppy?

"Jack, what is this?" Maddie wondered, staring at the small animal. It couldn't be older than two months, tops, and was undeniably cute. But why had her husband brought the small animal home?

"Our 'we're sorry' to Danny." Jack explained, "Since we've threatened to dissect him a lot and... well, we've attacked him a lot, too. It's also my 'I'm sorry' for just walking out like that. I hope you're not angry with me for bringing her home without discussing it with you?"

"Oh..." Maddie mulled this over, at least Jack hadn't done anything rash, right? And this might be the best time she could possibly wish for to discuss Danielle's situation with him. "Only if you're not angry that I told Danielle she can live with us."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "There was actually a question in that? I though it was pretty clear she's going to stay with us, since she's Danny's clone and all."

"You're serious?" The woman smiled, "Jack, you are_amazing_!"

"Uh... thanks?" The man shrugged, "Where is Danielle, anyway? Does she go to school anywhere?"

"No, she's taking a shower. I don't even believe the state even knows she exists. That might be a problem." Maddie frowned, "So uh... how exactly do we plan on taking care of a dog?"

"It's Danny's dog." Jack said, "He'll have to figure it out."

"Right."

It was about at that moment Danielle came downstairs again, wearing Jazz' old sweatpants and a shirt that reached her knees. She froze when she spotted Jack, but relaxed when he shot her a big, goofy smile.

"Hey, Danielle! Welcome to the family!"

"Uh... thanks?" Danielle asked, "Wait, I didn't realize I was part of the family, now."

"Well, of course you are!" Jack said in a tone that clearly implied a 'duh', "You're a Fenton!"

Just then, the dog somehow found a way out of it's leash and ran towards Danielle fiercely, jumping up against her and thus making her fall on her bottom.

The young girl laughed. "Well, hello there, girl! I don't think I've met you, yet!"

"Yeah, she doesn't have a name yet. Danny'll give her one." Jack shrugged, "It's too bad I took so long, really. Now he'll have to sit through an entire school day thinking I just walked out on him like that..."

"I could fly to school and tell him you're back?" Danielle offered, "I've been there once before, anyway... Tucker and Sam weren't too happy with me, though."

"No, I think that's okay." Jack said with a shake of his head, "You should get settled in, anyway. You can take the guest room as your own?"

"Wait, seriously?" Danielle paused in petting the dog, looking up at both adults with doubt in her eyes, "No joke?"

"No joke." Maddie promised, "We should also get you some clothes, the ones in the washer are very... torn."

"We can worry about all that, tomorrow!" Jack said, "First of all, I'm going to call Vladdie- I mean Vlad. I have some things to say to him... not Kid-rated, Danielle, so if you would kindly go to your room, I'd be very happy."

"Right..." Danielle frowned, "Do be careful with my d- I mean Vlad, okay? He's... He's more dangerous than you might think." She started backing away towards the hallway, ready to flee upstairs. "And if he takes me, he'll melt me, and-"

"He won't get to do that." Maddie assured the young girl, "We won't even allow him _close_ as a human, and this house has a very good ghost shield. Now why don't you get some more sleep? It got very late last night."

Danielle nodded, turned around, and ran upstairs.

'Ordinary' truly wasn't a thing in the Fenton household.

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><p><strong>AN: Yes, I ended it like that. Learn to live with it, I suppose. Everyone who supported this story, thank you! Please check out my other story 'lost & Found' and fill in the poll on my profile, and I hope to see you guys in the next story!**

**(Please remember that I wrote the entirety of this story in one night. The quality might thus not be the best ever.)**


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